Laid out on the old kitchen gardens of Beaufort House, this Chelsea square was one of the first to be built after the opening of the Kings Road. The house was built c.1840 and its first resident a retired naval officer. The area declined in prosperity towards the end of the century and many of the properties became lodging houses, including this one for a short time. The Victorian artist Walter Burgess, who chronicled much of old Chelsea, lived nearby and directly next door the painter Paul Nash. Other notable people in the square included Samuel Beckett, author of Waiting for Godot; novelist Jean Rhys; Sir Lawrence Gowing; scientist Patrick Blackett; and naturalist and author Gavin Maxwell.
